#DayInTheLife: Cakes, Kids & Other Ramblings

Hi, for those that haven’t come across me before, I am a full time stay at home mum to 3 littlies, I have Baby Pop who is 6 months old, Baby Girl who is 2.5 and currently undergoing assessment for ASD and Big Girl who is 4. I’m currently home educating her which is difficult and tiring but a lot of fun! I’m also studying part time with the Open University towards a Psychology Degree, and I am really enjoying it so far.

We’re not really a schedule and routine type of family, we have a loose one that we follow, but a strict routine doesn’t really work for us. We’re more of an everyday is different kind of family, and we have so much to fit in during the week that we tend to wing each day just trying to survive!

With a 6 month old who still wakes frequently in the night I couldn’t tell you when one day ended and another started, instead they just seem to drift one into the other in a sleep deprived haze! At 7.30 Baby Pop and I went down stairs to find the dishwasher turned on, the girls sat down eating breakfast and The Husband already moving the pushchair from his car into mine. Some days I really love that man! I started my oil pulling, put a load of nappies into the machine (both of those things make me sound a lot more hippy than I actually am!) and realised with a heavy heart I was going to have to do a food shop, sooner rather than later, I had no food for the kids’ lunch.

The Husband was de-icing his car as I made sure the kids were happy in front of the TV and headed upstairs for a shower, he was already leaving later than he wanted and I jokingly asked him to de–ice my car after he had done his, and I made mentally made a note reminding myself I would have to deice the car before going shopping.

After my shower I called Big Girl upstairs and told her that if she got dressed before I did she could have a chocolate! Not the greatest parenting tactic, but a great motivation tool when I want something done quickly! I sat down and read a couple of emails, fed Ollie and she appeared fully dressed asking for her chocolate. I handed her a Roses tin to pick out of and Baby Girl appeared asking if she could have one too. I told her if she bought me an outfit to wear she could have one too. Then in a dangerous move that could have caused disaster, I asked Big Girl to help her! Thankfully today it caused sisterly harmony as they picked out an outfit together.

By 8.45 every one is dressed, this has to be some sort of record, and we’ve done it without any time outs or tantrums. Today is definitely going to be a good day…hopefully! I went outside to de-ice the car to find The Husband had done it. Sometimes I really, really love that man! 30 minutes later and everyone had shoes on, coats on and is in the car. That sentence really doesn’t capture the crazy that is getting 3 under 4 out of the door with 2 matching shoes, dressed appropriately for the cold weather and strapped securely into a car, I think that because I blank it out each time I do it, if I didn’t I would never leave the house!

We went to our local Morrison’s, which also has a Matalan on site so we popped in to get some Christmas presents, then over to Boots to order some nappy wraps, only to discover the ordering system is down today. The assistant asked ‘can you come back this afternoon? It might be working then’ I looked from her to my children and wanted to laugh! ‘I’ll come back another day’ knowing I won’t get back till next week when I do this all over again.

Generally my girls are very good when we go shopping, and today wasn’t really any different. Its difficult having 2 toddlers who are bored and want to look at things and all I want to do is get in and get out! The words, ‘come back’ ‘don’t run off’ and ‘don’t touch’ leave my mouth far more

often than I wold like, but in all honesty sometimes its just for the people around us. I don’t really mind the girls running off as long as I can see them, but I’ve noticed as long as I’m saying these things people tut me a whole lot less!! ½ way round the shop and Baby Girl calls out ‘oh no! oh no! oh no!’ she had just wet herself in the middle of the isle. I grabbed an assistant and stripped her leggings off and headed to the clothing department to grab her some pants to wear under her jumper dress.

The wee incident really threw me and I was struggling to remember what I needed to get, so I just grabbed a few essensials and headed to the checkout. Baby Pop had fallen asleep at a really odd angle so I took him out of the trolley while we waited in the really long queue. We were called over to a new checkout and an absolute angel helped me out, putting the shopping onto the conveyor belt, packing the shopping then putting it all back into the trolley. All while chatting to the girls and being very patient with their questions.

Once home I turned to bribery and Cbeebies to keep the girls entertained so I could put the shopping away, then I had 45 minutes before lunch to do some blogging work. I fired up the lap top to write a letter to Morrison’s first praising the Angel that helped me out today, ½ way through Baby Pop woke up. I quickly finished the email while he got more and more agitated, then fed him and popped him in his baby walker, which left me 10 minutes before lunch, I logged into twitter instead. A couple of tweets sent, new people followed and it was time to make lunch.

15 minutes of making sandwiches, opening crisps and getting drinks and it was time to make lunch for me. Baby Pop rolled over to let me know he had poo’d, lunch making abandoned for the minute, I changed his nappy (and his vest and socks) rescued the brand new foil I’d somehow forgotten to put awayfrom the girls (looks like I’ll be needing foil again next week!). My phone went off and a quick glance told me a friend had messaged me. I got chatting with her and then remembered I was about to make lunch.Unfortunately Baby Pop had other ideas as he rolled up to let me know he had poo’d. Again! Nappy changed, this time his vest was safe, I turned the TVback on for the girls, stopped to wonder if maybe the girls watch too much TV in a day and rather than making anything for lunch for me decided I was safer with a packet of crisps and a yogurt, I might actually get some food in me before I was wanted again!

At 2pm I turned off theTV and sent the girls to play with their toys, Baby pop wanted feeding and he fell asleep while I read some articles on Facebook. I managed to put him down and warned the girls they needed to be really quiet around him as I needed to get on with some Uni work and there’d be dire consequences if they woke him up. Less than 5 minutes later the girls were screaming at eachother and Pop was awake. Dire consequences forgotten about, they incorporated baby pop into their game while he chased them around in his walker and I read 1 paragraph, before making drinks, bribing with snacks and turningCbeebies on with the plea ‘just let me finish this chapter, I have 1 more section to read, then I am all yours’ 2 more minutes, 1 sentence read and baby Pop is demanding food, a quick feed and back to the books I’ve got an hour before I need to start dinner. The phone rings and it’s the OU wanting to talk about my degree pathway, and then I remember I really need to phone the dental hospital and my dentist to chase up a prescription. Oh and the Dr for Baby Girl and my mum for a quick chat. I think I’m starting to procrastinate now! Just 10 minutes before I need to start dinner so I guess its really time to get down to it now. Baby Pop rolls back up and the smell is over powering! I can get some Uni work done later.

I put sausage rolls and chips in the oven, I’ll changePop then put some carrots on. Baby pop’s nappy is so bad he needs stripping off completely, its bath night so I wont get him dressed just yet,

but he does want feeding. The oven timer goes offfor the dinner and I realise I haven’t done any carrots, but tomato ketchup counts as one of their 5 a day right?! Dinners dished and The Husband’s is left in the oven, I feed Baby Pop some fruit puree and leave the girls eating to run their bath. Pop gets dunked first, then I wash Big Girl’s hair followed by Baby Girl’s. I leave the girls playing in the bath while I get Baby pop dressed and then dry off the girls.

We all head into their room for a quick tidy, pj’s on and story time. I leave the girls playing telling them they have 5 minutes and take Baby Pop downstairs for another feed. The Husband walks through the door 10 minutes later at 7pm and heads upstairs to say good night and turn their light out. Baby Pop is asleep and The Husband takes him off me for snuggles. I sit down to write this and other blog posts and after I’m done I have a fun evening planned tidying the kitchen, putting a washing load on, feeling guilty because I haven’t really done as much Uni work as I wanted or done any school work with Big Girl, and veggingin front of the TV before climbing into bed at 10pm and doing it all over again tomorrow.

Leoni-Fay is taking part in my #DayInTheLife project, a series of posts where people write about their typical day. If you would like to take part, please fill in the form on my blog post here.

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